Analysis Of The Relationship Between Technology And Strategy And How They Shaped The Confederate States Navy [Illustrated Edition]

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Text originally published in 1999 under the same title.

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AN ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TECHNOLOGY AND STRATEGY AND HOW THEY SHAPED THE CONFEDERATE STATES NAVY

BY

LCDR WESLEY A. BROWN, USN.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

ABSTRACT 5

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 6

FIGURE 6

TABLES 6

CHAPTER ONE — INTRODUCTION 7

CHAPTER TWO — EVENTS LEADING TO THE CIVIL WAR 11

Organizing a Nation 13

The Strategy 16

CHAPTER THREE — THE CONFEDERATE IRONCLAD 21

The Strategy 22

The Merrimack Conversion 23

The New Strategy 29

Louisiana Ironclads 33

Virginia Ironclads 36

South Carolina Ironclads 37

Georgia Ironclads 38

North Carolina Ironclads 39

Alabama Ironclads 41

Tennessee Ironclads 42

Conclusion 44

CHAPTER FOUR — CONFEDERATE MINE WARFARE 45

Confederate Improvements in Technologies 46

Confederate Leaders in Torpedo Warfare 47

Confederate Torpedoes Fuses 51

Confederate Torpedoes 53

CHAPTER FIVE — SUBMARINE WARFARE 57

David and Goliath 57

Success with Submarines 61

CHAPTER SIX — CONCLUSION 74

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 80

ILLUSTRATIONS 81

TABLES 98

TABLE 1 — CONFEDERATE IRONCLADS 98

Virginia waters: 98

North Carolina waters: 99

South Carolina waters: 100

Georgia waters: 101

Alabama waters: 102

Louisiana waters: 103

Mississippi waters: 104

TABLE 2 — SHIPS SUNK OR DAMAGED BY TORPEDOES DURING THE CIVIL WAR 105

TABLE 3 — THE DIMENSIONS OF THE THREE CONFEDERATE SUBMERSIBLE BOATS 106

GLOSSARY 107

REFERENCES 112

ABSTRACT

AN ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TECHNOLOGY AND STRATEGY AND HOW THEY SHAPED THE CONFEDERATE STATES NAVY, by LCDR Wesley A. Brown, USN.

This study investigates the use of technology by the Confederate States of America to develop naval strategy and ultimately the Navy during the American Civil War. The study concentrates on the building and use of: ironclads to break the blockade and coastal defense, torpedoes (mines) for coastal defense, and Submarines to help break the blockade at Charleston.

The use of technology had a significant influence on the Confederate Navy not only on the strategic, but also on the operational and the tactical levels of war. Operational campaigns were planned and executed around the presence or absence of confederate ironclads by both the North and the South. Battles were won, lost, or never fought due to the presence of confederate torpedoes laid in Southern harbors. The threat of Confederate submarines caused Union blockading squadrons to reduce the capabilities of catching runners by moving the fleet out of the submarines tactical range.

Today's Navy, in its quest for new technology, faces a similar situation as the Confederate Navy did in 1861. The Navy must seek new technology to enhance warfighting skills and not simply look for the ultimate weapon, as the Confederate Navy first thought of the ironclad.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURE

Pictures of Shells, Bolts, 6.4 and 7-inch Brooke Guns

CSS Virginia in Drydock

Map of the Battle at Hampton Roads, 8-9 March 1862

Map of the South showing Confederate Naval Yards, Stations, and Facilities.

Naval Facilities in Richmond, Virginia

Naval Iron Works and Navy Yard, Columbus, Georgia

Picture of the Diamond Hull of an Albemarle Class ironclad

Picture of Confederate Ironclad Hull Types

Naval Facilities, Savannah, Georgia

Naval Gun Foundry and Ordnance Works, Selma, Alabama

Diagram of Confederate Torpedo Organization after October 1862

Actual Rain’s Fuse

Example of Typical Fuse Used in an Electrical Torpedo

Example of Chemical Fuse Used an Electrical Torpedo

Rain’s Frame Torpedo

Keg Torpedo

Fretwell-Singer Torpedo

Electrical Torpedoes

Register of Private Ships Issued Letter of Marques

The Rebel Submarine Ram Pioneer

Diagram of the American Diver/Pioneer II

Diagram of the H. L. Hunley

The Hunley Transported to Charleston

TABLES

Confederate Ironclads

Ships Sunk or Damaged by Torpedoes During the Civil War

Dimensions of Three Confederate Submersible Boats

CHAPTER ONE — INTRODUCTION

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect, and defend it. (Lincoln 1861, 223-224)

By the time President Lincoln gave his inaugural address in March 1861, seven states had seceded from the Union and appointed Jefferson Davis as the first President of the Confederate States of America. Within months, six more states would join the Confederacy. Davis, knowing the Union would not allow the rebels to break from the Union peacefully had to band these southern states together and form a military to fight for their way of life (Coski 1996, 3).

One of the many problems facing the newly formed confederacy was to attempt to do something never tried by a nation before. To build a navy while at war with an enemy that already had one of the largest navies in the world (Luraghi 1996, 15). The Confederacy had a unique situation that enabled them to build a navy directly in concert with the development of the naval strategy used to defeat their enemy. This could be accomplished in one of two ways. First, they could allow the current available ships, weapons, and tactics to dictate the strategy. Second, they could develop the strategy and let it dictate the type of navy to build.

In view of the shortfalls facing the Confederacy, especially in their economy and available resources, the South decided to develop a strategy that would best counter the Union's navy, then build a navy accordingly. While developing its strategy, the South realized whatever type of navy it built, it would be smaller than that of its foes.

Therefore, the Confederates looked to technology to counter the numerical advantage of the Union's navy. Specifically, they wanted a highly maneuverable steam cruiser for commerce raiding, armored ships for blockade running, rifled guns for more accurate and lethal fires, and submarine weaponry for harbor defense.

This thesis analyzes the use of technology by the Confederates to develop their naval strategy and ultimately build the Confederate Navy and answers the primary question: What were the significant factors that affected the success or failure of the technological-based naval strategy? While answering this question, there are several secondary questions to analyze. What was the Confederate war strategy, if any, and its influence on the naval strategy? What technology did the Confederates use? How did the political and economic conditions in the South shape the development of the Confederate navy?

Several essential terms will be used throughout the thesis, and their definitions are provided in a glossary. The term technology, however, is an integral concept to chapter one and beyond, so it is defined as follows:

By the middle of the nineteenth century, the United States was undergoing a revolutionary transformation in maritime technology brought on by the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution was the process of change from an agrarian, handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacture. This process began in England in the 1800s and spread to other parts of the world, including the United States. One feature involved in the Industrial Revolution was technological.

These changes in technology included: the use of new basic materials, chiefly iron and steel; the use of new energy sources, including both fuels and motive power, such as coal, the steam engine, electricity, petroleum, and the internal-combustion engine; a new organization of work known as the factory system, which entailed increased division of labor and specialization of function; important developments in transportation and communication, including the steam locomotive and steamship; and the increasing application of science to industry. These technological changes made necessary a tremendously increased use of natural resources and the mass production of manufactured goods. The advancement in maritime technology was so great Alfred Thayer Mahan wrote: A naval captain who fought the Invincible Armada would have been more at home in the typical warship of 1840 than the average captain of 1840 would have been in the advanced [ship] types of the American Civil War (Mahan 1907, 3). Now that term technology has been defined, the following paragraphs will outline the thesis basis.

The thesis has found two primary limitations: (1) few archival records on the Confederate States' Navy and (2) time to complete the thesis. When the Confederates evacuated Richmond in 1865, the Navy Department burned most of its records thereby limiting the amount of primary sources (Luraghi 1996, xi). Some primary records exist in the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, as well as in periodicals and newspapers, some of which are on the Internet. Through the outstanding research by Raimondo Luraghi, Thomas Scharf, William Still, and others, are adequate secondary sources for the thesis exist. To complete the thesis in the allotted time, concurrently with the Command and General Staff College curriculum, the thesis research will be limited in time and distance. Travel will be limited to the Lawrence, Kansas, area to perform research. However, the Combined Arms Research Library is an outstanding research library. What cannot be found there, can be requested from libraries across the country. This thesis also uses the Internet for data to help reduce the research time. The Internet has volumes of information, including primary and secondary sources on reputable educational sites.

Six constraints will be imposed on this thesis to ensure it remains feasible. First, although the Union's naval strategy is worthy of research, an in-depth study of it will not be done. Rather, the thesis will examine it in relation to its effects on the Confederate naval strategy. There have been several major writings on Union strategy, specifically on: Gideon Welles, Union Secretary of the Navy, and General Winfield Scott, General in Chief, the architect of the grand strategy (Anaconda) for the Union.

Second, the thesis has limited research on the political climate in the South. After the country split, the South had to piece together some form of government. The Southern states seceded from the Union due to a perceived threat to their sovereign state rights. Therefore, a strong central government, such as the United States, would not be adopted (Fowler 1990, 41). Discussion are limited to the context of how this political dilemma affected the decision making of the Confederate leaders.

Third, in the beginning, the Confederacy had a minimal and fragile economy. The thesis limits the study of the economic condition in the South to establishing how it affected the building of the Confederate States Navy.

Fourth, Southern industry was not prepared to build a Navy. Compared to the North, the South had fewer factories and mines, one private shipyard, and one foundry (Anderson 1962, 13). Therefore, a limited discussion of the industry or the lack thereof, to its direct impact on the shaping of the Confederate Navy.

Fifth, Stephen Mallory, Confederate Secretary of the Navy, was the guiding force behind their naval strategy concept and the building of the navy itself. Although Mallory directly or indirectly influences all aspects of this thesis, the research will focus on tangible evidence for decisions made while building the Confederate navy. It will not explore other influences, specifically on Mallory, such as background, education, political motives, or other personal beliefs.

Sixth, the Confederate naval strategy encompasses several operational and tactical levels of war, all of which are worthy of research. This thesis will not include riverine, privateering, commerce raiding, or amphibious warfare. Specific areas were chosen because they best illustrate the use of technology in the overall Confederate naval strategy.

This study will be a historical analysis using primary and secondary sources to determine how technology influenced the Confederate naval strategy and the building of the navy, and to analyze the effects it had on the war. The use of tactics was not included in the research during individual battles but focus more on the strategic and operational levels of the war.

Of all naval strategies in the history of the United States, Stephen Mallory's strategy for the Confederate Navy may well be the best suited for today's Naval officer to analyze. Mallory's task was to build a navy virtually from scratch while his new nation was at war with an enemy that already had one of the world's largest, albeit unprepared, navies. If that was not hard enough, he also had to formulate a strategy to help his new nation win the war. Whether the strategy adopted was a success or failure, it does not take away from its importance. The Confederates were up against